A Lark Ascending

Looks right up my street. Have added to my e-music 'Save for Later' so I can pick it up when my credits reload next week. Many thanks.

I'm looking forward to Howard Alden's Piazzolla album. Thanks for the Piazzolla recommendations all. Very much enjoying the few things I have and will branch outward.

Very sad. I came to Mariano from a rather different route - the Eberhard Weber 'Colours' band of the 70s. Have always enjoyed what I've heard of his music elsewhere too.

You might strike lucky on this, Brad: He's done weekly gigs at various places over the years. Always the night before or the night after I'm there! The one occasion I got to a pub he was playing in he was trapped down in Cork! Well worth hearing if you can. http://www.louisstewart.net/itinerary.htm

Thanks all. The big Piazzolla craze of a few years back passed me by completely, so I've not had a chance to become jaded by over-exposure. I became intrigued listening to a radio programme a few months back. Just after a modest selection. Probably the hot weather that is drawing me that way at present.

In my experience, not the place to go for jazz. But when I was last there a couple of years back there were two very nice shops with a wide selection of Irish traditional music: One on the road on the south side of Trinity College, not far from Grafton Street (the main shopping area) - a good area for bookshops. Another tucked away in the Temple Bar maze, near the alternative cinema/arts centre. Given what has happened in Britain as a whole, these may be gone by now. Apart from that you are stuck with the usual HMV and some local chains (Golden Discs?) which don't have anything unusual. Easons, the big book/stationary store, had a largish CD area in its O'Connell Street store last time I was there...though again, not big on jazz. Don't waste your time chasing CDs in Dublin - take a hop-on, hop-off bus tour to get the lie of the land. If you have any historical interest, Kilmainham Jail is fascinating. And there are great walking tours - I did a great one based around the 1916 Easter Rising - the guide had the gift of the gab and told us so much more about Dublin. Though if it's a business trip you won't have time for any of this! Great...if ramshackle (vanity tower blocks and continental bars cheek by jowl with dilapidated pubs with old Guinness signs)....city.

Got myself a random 2CD set off iTunes. Seems there are dozens of compilations out there made up of endless live recordings. This set sounds fine to my unschooled ears. Also got Gary Burton's 'Libertango' off e-music - no Piazzolla himself but all his music. Best Burton disc I've heard in years. The Mulligan looks interesting but I want to get a feel for the man himself first.

Impressive tree spotting skills, Serioza. It is a cherry tree (not sure if it is wild or otherwise). Cherries are just ripening now...but the birds will get them befoe I do! The branch on the left is a plum tree. Both are bearing fruit this year. Neither did last year.

Reread it a couple of months back and loved it (and I don't read much 'literature' these days). Sent me off to get the background in 'King Leopold's Ghost' and now: Other Conrad I've attempted I've found really hard going. I loved Gatsby when I read it in the 70s. Especially the final sentence. I don't think the problem is how great a book is or not; it's this strange need to constantly put things in hierarchies. If a book has grabbed you at 17 it hardly matters what someone else thinks about its significance...even yourself thirty years later.

Love the deer! Rather more impressive than the anaemic ones near me. [Apologies for buggering-up the quotes above. I'd not set my new album on the host site to public. Edit: The quotes pix have now returned.] One of those deer is not quite like the others. Experimental breed. Aiming to minimise wastage so you don't get bits people don't want to eat.

150 years of coal dust, perhaps.

Amazing what you can find within two or three miles (or in one case a few feet) of your home:

Anyone have this problem. Most times I download an album two tracks freeze half way. I have to press resume to get them (and remember to do this!). Sometimes resume does not work. The only way to get the tracks is to re-download. They often turn up in a different file with strange symbols replacing some letters in the titles.

Anyone familiar with Piazzolla with some recommendations? I'd be especially interested in a good 2CD type compilation. I have a cheapo 'Music Club' single CD and 'Zero Hour' (which is fabulous); also a Chandos orchestral recording of his music by other players, bandoneon concerto included. Also interested in any single disc 'must haves'!

anyone? Great fun...though breaks no new ground. He's keen on Monteverdi as a source! I like it.

The Bollani is a trio disc with his Danish rhythm section Jesper Bodilsen-Morten Lund, should be a great one. I like the sound of that - there are two excellent earlier discs with this partnership.

Quite! I love your swamps...I keep expecting to see ghostly Confederate soldiers emerging. And Hardbopjazz' flower would make a great CD sleeve!

I love this picture, Bev! It really is an amazing place! That's the medieval monastery - but in the 18thC the site was turned into a landscaped garden. You follow a river in a gorge from the ruins round a 45 degree bend, landscaped all the way with formal lakes and walks at different levels. About a mile of wonderful, ever changing scenery.

Five years working on my garden is at last paying off:

The Big Bands are Back too!

Very sad - first Elton, now Hugh. From one of the most influential bands in shaping my musical tastes.

If the Magnificent Goldberg were here he'd refer you to the Rev. J.M. Gates "Death Might Be Your Santa Claus" which might go back to as early as 1926.

A nice story, if very imitative of Louis de Bernieres. Idyllic Basque community in first half - loving families, comic characters, harmless mischief; then sudden tragedy with the bombing; then the rebuilding. He also throws in vignettes of Picasso, the planning of the Condor Legion etc as Bernieres did with Mussolini in Captain Corelli. Still, very enjoyable and has made me want to read:

This new compilation might be of interest to anyone wanting to dip their toe into this marvellous little lake: Disc: 1 1. Cocaine - John Martyn, Theo Johnson 2. She Moves Through The Fair - Fairport Convention, Joe Boyd 3. Withering Tree - Jimmy Miller, Traffic 4. Seven Black Roses - Al Stewart, John Martyn 5. A Sailor's Life - Fairport Convention, Joe Boyd, John Wood, Simon Nicol 6. The Ocean - Joe Boyd, John Martyn, Beverley Martyn 7. Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal - Dr. Strangely Strange, Joe Boyd 8. Living In The Past - Alexander Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull, Terry Ellis 9. Matty Groves - Fairport Convention, Joe Boyd, John Wood 10. John Barleycorn (Must Die) - Chris Blackwell, Steve Winwood, Traffic 11. Banks Of The Nile - Fotheringay, Joe Boyd 12. One Of These Things First - Joe Boyd, Nick Drake, John Robert Wood, Robert Kirby, Paul Harris, Ed Carter, Mike Kowalski 13. Sir Patrick Spens - Fairport Convention, Frank Kornelussen, Jerry Boys, Joe Boyd Disc: 2 1. Dirty Linen - Fairport Convention, Joe Boyd, John Wood 2. On The Road To Find Out - Cat Stevens, Paul Samwell-Smith, Del Newman 3. Late November - Sandy Denny, John M. Wood, Richard Thompson, Harry Robinson 4. Flowers Of The Forest - Joe Boyd, Mike Heron 5. Spring Season - Amazing Blondel 6. Time Slips Away - Bronco 7. The Man Who Cannot See Tomorrow's Sunshine - Claire Hamill, Michael Coles 8. The Siege Of Yaddlethorpe - Amazing Blondel, Paul Samwell-Smith 9. Dear Old Battlefield - Stan Schnier, The Incredible String Band 10. Dark Eyed Lady - Robin Williamson 11. Poor Ditching Boy - John M. Wood, John Wood, Richard Thompson 12. The Nutting Girl - John M. Wood, Morris On Band 13. Bushes And Briars - Sandy Denny, Trevor Lucas 14. Black Jack David - Mike Heron, The Incredible String Band 15. Sailing - Muff Winwood, Sutherland Brothers 16. Over The Hill - John Martyn, John M. Wood 17. Things Behind The Sun - Nick Drake, John Robert Wood 18. Haste To The Wedding/The Triumph/Off She Goes - Ashley Hutchings, John Kirkpatrick Disc: 3 1. Hanged I Shall Be - Albion Country Band 2. Eibhli Ghail Chiuin Ni Chearbhail - John Martyn 3. Withered And Died - John Wood, Richard Thompson, Linda Thompson 4. Spencer The Rover - John Martyn 5. Darlin' Cory - Bryn Haworth 6. The Sun Never Shines On The Poor - John Wood, Richard Thompson, Linda Thompson, Simon Nicol 7. Stone - Ronnie Lane 8. Dimming Of The Day / Dargai - Richard Thompson, John Wood, Linda Thompson 9. Upton Stick Dance - Ashley Hutchings 10. Calvary Cross - John M. Wood, John Wood, Richard Thompson 11. I'm A Dreamer - Jerry Boys, Jerry Donahue, Sandy Denny 12. May You Never [bBC - John Peel 4/2/77]] - John Martyn, Tony Wilson, Mike Robinson 13. Meet On The Ledge - Fairport Convention, Glyn Jones, Robin Black